Watch Samsung’s ‘Unbreakable’ OLED Panel Receive a Hammering

Earlier this week, Samsung Display unveiled an ‘unbreakable’ OLED panel featuring a plastic substrate. The company proudly claimed that the OLED panel was UL-Certified and had managed to withstand multiple drops from heights of as much as 1.8m without showing any signs of damage. To show just how unbreakable the OLED panel is, Samsung Display has now also uploaded a video on YouTube where it pounds the panel with a hammer.

The video is in Korea but there are English subtitles. You only need to ignore the funny and cringe-worthy background music to see the OLED panel survive the hammer test.

The video is definitely impressive and shows how much more durable OLED panels with a plastic window are. Perhaps down the line, OLED panels with a plastic window will become commonplace in smartphones and shattered screens will be a thing of the past.

However, Samsung is not the first company to use a plastic substrate on its OLED panel to improve its durability. LG and Motorola have done something similar in the past and while the plastic window does help improve durability, it leads to serious regression in the display’s performance. Plus, not to forget, a plastic window panel is far easier to scratch than glass which makes it impractical for use in daily use.

Samsung is likely to use this plastic OLED panel in its foldable smartphone which reports claim it plans on unveiling early next year. The enhanced durability by using a plastic window paves the way for a foldable smartphone, though it remains to be seen how Samsung manages to ensure that the display quality and performance are not affected by it.

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